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36 Hours in Whistler, British Columbia

Descending Blackcomb, now connected to Whistler by the Peak 2 Peak Gondola.Credit
Bonny Makarewicz for The New York Times

THERE are good reasons that much of the Winter Olympics is taking place in Whistler next month. Sure, North America’s biggest ski resort looms overhead. But this steep mountain valley is home to something else that makes it particularly welcoming to Olympic athletes: a global citizenry. Walk down the main promenade and see everyone from rich urban castaways and old-school hippies to French-babbling Québécois and weathered dropouts shouldering skis the size of ironing boards. It makes Whistler feel worldly and cosmopolitan, even when gold medals aren’t being handed out.

Friday

4 p.m.1)CULTURAL POWDER

Before you hit the snow, pay homage to the ground underneath: for thousands of years, Whistler Valley was the hunting and berry-picking grounds of the Squamish and Lil’wat First Nations. Explore the rich history of the land you’re skiing at the shiny new Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Center (4584 Blackcomb Way; 866-441-7522; www.slcc.ca; 18 Canadian dollars, about the same in U.S. dollars). While the hand-carved canoes, baskets and smoked-salmon bannocks (a kind of local panini) are diverting, what really makes this 30,000-square-foot museum shine is the friendly aboriginal “youth ambassadors,” who welcome visitors with native songs and totem-carving exhibitions.

8 p.m.2)CARBO LOAD

It’s easy to spend money in Whistler — and not just this Olympic year. Those watching their loonies should follow the local ski bums to Pasta Lupino (4368 Main Street in Whistler Village North; 604-905-0400; www.pastalupino.com). Tucked between a 7-Eleven and a Domino’s Pizza at the edge of the resort, the small, cheery restaurant serves fantastic fresh pastas with homemade Bolognese and Alfredo sauces; the prices for pastas, soup or salad and freshly baked focaccia can’t be beat. Dinner combos start at 15.50 Canadian dollars.

10 p.m.3)PRE-SKI COCKTAILS

Maybe it’s all the snow, but Whistler doesn’t skimp when it comes to watering holes. They run the spectrum from hockey sports bars, to “ice” bars where you can chill your drink between sips. For the latter, head to the august Bearfoot Bistro (4121 Village Green; 604-932-3433; www.bearfootbistro.com). There you can have your flute of B.C. bubbly (from 14 Canadian dollars) with a side of tinkling piano music and appetizers by Melissa Craig, who won the 2008 gold medal as Canada’s best chef at the Canadian Culinary Championships. Or, for a more boisterous setting, stomp your Sorels over to Crystal Lounge (4154 Village Green; 604-938-1081), a basement bar in the village center festooned with TVs and hockey sweaters. It’s packed with local skiers and boarders eating 35-cent wings and drinking pitchers of Granville Island English Bay Pale Ale (16.50 dollars).

Whistler or Blackcomb? Before, skiers had to pick one, but thanks to the year-old Peak 2 Peak Gondola, all 8,171 acres of this behemoth resort are within easy reach. If the snow’s good, Whistler will be packed, so here’s a plan: in the morning, avoid the crowded Village Gondola at Whistler and go to Blackcomb’s base area to ride the Wizard Express and Solar Coaster Express lifts. The lines are shorter, and they get you right up Blackcomb Mountain. Warm up on the gentle Jersey Cream run and check the lighted boards to see which mountaintop lifts are open. When you reach the top, take your pick of ego powder runs like Showcase or the mettle-testing Couloir Extreme. When you’re ready, swoop across to Whistler on the Peak 2 Peak Gondola, which is an event in itself: the cabins, which fit 28, dangle up to 1,427 feet high over a span of almost three miles.

Come lunchtime, the huge lodges can feel like rush hour. Instead, seek out the lesser-known on-mountain restaurants. On Blackcomb, the Crystal Hut (www.whistlerblackcomb.com/todo/MountainDining) is a small log cabin near the top of the Crystal Chair that serves Belgian waffles all day and lunch specialties from a wood oven. On Whistler, the Chic Pea near the top of the Garbanzo Express lift serves toasted sandwiches, pizza and barbecued items on its outdoor deck.

2 p.m.6)HEAVEN ON SKIS

If the sun’s smiling, head over to Blackcomb’s 7th Heaven area, which has great views and is warmed by the afternoon’s rays. It also has something for everyone: long, bumpy runs like Sunburn and Angel Dust, harder-to-reach powder stashes like Lakeside Bowl and lingering intermediate groomers like Hugh’s Heaven and Cloud Nine, which seem to meander to the valley floor.

4 p.m.7) BOARDS AT THE SOURCE

Independent ski and snowboard makers like Igneous Skis and Never Summer Snowboards have sprung up all over in recent years. One of the oldest is Prior Snowboards and Skis (104-1410 Alpha Lake Road, 604-935-1923, www.priorskis.com), founded 20 years ago in Whistler. Every Wednesday at 5 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m., the company offers free one-hour tours of the factory floor. See how fiberglass layers are glued with epoxy and pressed together under enormous heat and pressure to create a springy, responsive snow toy.

6:30 p.m.8) PLAYTIME FOR ALL

A ski resort can be tricky for parents. At day’s end the kids are still wound up, but the adults are ready for a cocktail. Before you push off for a good pour, drop the kids off for more vertical fun at the Core (4010 Whistler Conference Centre; 604-905-7625; www.whistlercore.com), a new climbing gym and fitness center in the middle of the village with an indoor wall. Try the nightly Climb & Dine program for kids — three hours of supervised rock climbing, as well as a pizza dinner. Cost: 70 Canadian dollars (excludes taxes) per child ages 6 and up (10 percent off for additional siblings). Reservations required.

7 p.m.9)ALPINE CUISINE

Despite its proximity to Vancouver’s world-class dining, Whistler doesn’t have many culinary highs or well-mixed cocktails. One restaurant that tries to do both is the Mountain Club (40-4314 Main Street, Whistler Town Plaza; 604-932-6009; www.themountainclub.ca). Sister restaurant to Vancouver’s Ocean Club, the sleek-looking restaurant is softened by white banquettes and birch branches. Start with the Goggle Tan cocktail (Grey Goose, Giffard Ginger of the Indies liqueur, cilantro, aloe juice, fresh lime, a rim dusted with cayenne pepper). Chase that with slightly fussed-up Pacific Northwest cuisine like black cod with salsify, baby leeks and sunchoke purée (28 Canadian dollars). Order another Goggle Tan and you’ll forget about your sunburn.

9:30 p.m.10)WHAT WIPEOUT?

Everyone from weary locals to visiting ski-film royalty ends up at the Garibaldi Lift Company, or GLC (4165 Springs Lane; 604-905-2220), an airy lounge upstairs from the base of the Whistler Gondola. The crowd is big and rowdy. A pitcher of Kokanee beer will set you back 18.50 Canadian dollars. Count on a band or D.J. playing, a fire roaring and (more) hockey on the flat screen. With its floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the slopes, the GLC is the kind of place to embellish the day’s stories and make outsize promises for tomorrow.

Sunday

11 a.m.11)NORDIC DREAMS

Yesterday you barreled down Whistler Mountain pretending to be Lindsey Vonn. Now, go for the Walter Mitty experience: About 12 miles southwest of the resort, in the Callaghan Valley, is the Whistler Olympic Park (5 Callaghan Valley Road; 877-764-2455; www.whistlerolympicpark.com), a sprawling Nordic playground with day passes for 20 Canadian dollars. In a non-Olympic year, you can strap on a pair of cross-country skis, toss a firearm over your shoulder and become a biathlete for an hour. Those trails are closed this winter, but there are still 45 miles of groomed and open snow fields among towering, moss-draped hemlocks — plenty of room to race your partner and fulfill your Nordic gold-medal fantasies.

THE BASICS

Most visitors fly to Vancouver, and then take a shuttle 70 miles north. Continental was selling tickets for nonstop flights from New York City to Vancouver in mid-January for $486, according to a recent online search. Another tip: book through Whistler’s reservations center (888-403-4727, www.whistlerblackcomb.com), which often has fares 15 to 20 percent lower than published prices (in addition, most fares are refundable, minus a cancellation fee).

From the airport, shuttle transfers are available to Whistler from Pacific Coach Lines for 29 to 57 Canadian dollars (about the same in U.S. dollars); (800) 661-1725, www.pacificcoach.com. A car isn’t needed at Whistler; free buses circulate the resort.

Opened in January 2008,Nita Lake Lodge(2131 Lake Placid Road; 888-755-6482; www.nitalakelodge.com) is a timber-and-stone lodge with 77 suites starting at 299 Canadian dollars a night. It offers views of Nita Lake, and has a high-end restaurant, Jordan’s Crossing.

Aava Whistler Hotel (4005 Whistler Way; 800-663-5644; www.aavawhistlerhotel.com) has 191 rooms starting at 259 Canadian dollars. The hotel, formerly the Coast Whistler Hotel, is right next to Whistler village and a five-minute walk to the lifts.

Correction: January 31, 2010

The 36 Hours column on Jan. 17 about Whistler, British Columbia, referred imprecisely to some nonstop flights between New York and Vancouver. Under a code-share arrangement, Continental sells tickets for flights to Vancouver operated by Air Canada, not by Continental. (Continental does offer nonstop service between the two cities in the summer.)

A version of this article appears in print on January 17, 2010, on page TR12 of the New York edition with the headline: 36 Hours: Whistler, British Columbia. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe